Through Love and Time
by Disenchanting Smiles
Summary: And I want you to know, without a doubt, that I love you. Naruto knew that Sasuke always would.


Naruto stood on Hokage mountain, the city that he loved spread out before him. The breeze played with his hair and unzipped jacket, but he did not notice. He was completely unaware of his surrounding. The city was spread before him, but his blue eyes were not looking at it. They were filled with a shining, empty sadness that was threatening to spill over the edges. He held back. He wouldn't cry from sadness, hadn't he said that all those years ago?

Even as Naruto was thinking this a drop hit the stone beneath his feet. He squinted his eyes furiously and put a hand up to them, pressing, willing to stop any more tears from falling. Then _his_ face pushed its way to the front of his mind, a sob escaped his throat. The blond fell to the ground, drawing deep, sobbing breaths, trying to stop the tears and the crying. The harder he tried the more _he _came into his mind. Calling him a scaredy-cat, glaring fiercely at him as they sparred, kissing him gently, telling him how much he loved him, calling him-

"Dobe." A deep voice said softly.

Naruto didn't look up. _Oh God now I'm hearing things,_ he thought, _What the hell is wrong with me?_

"Dobe, stop crying."

Naruto still refused to look up, his hands were still pressed tight to his eyes, the sobs coming out harder and the tears faster. There was a patch of wet ground in front of him. His whole body was shaking with the force of the sobs. And he had given up. He couldn't fight them anymore. He didn't feel like he could fight _anything _anymore. The thought of what _he_ would say to that thought crossed his mind and the pain tore at his chest. His heart wasn't breaking, no, it was shredding, slowly and painfully. Talons were clawing at it, shredding off bit after bit. It was the worst feeling Naruto had ever felt.

"Naruto," the voice said again.

"God _dammit_ Sasuke! You're not here- You're dead! Let me fucking forget about you so it will stop hurting!" he yelled, finally looking up. The sight before him shocked him into numbness.

Sasuke was standing there. Smirking his arrogant smirk, hands shoved in his pocket. Looking like he always did. Naruto would have gotten up and kissed him like _he_ always did. Except Sasuke was dead. He'd been dead for over twelve hours. Naruto had carried his body back to Konoha. He couldn't be standing there. _I'm crazy, _Naruto thought, _No way around it. I'm crazy. _He continued to stare up at this (hallucination, he'd decided) with blank eyes. That was when he noticed that though Sasuke was there and he looked exactly as Naruto had known him, he was different. He wasn't transparent like a ghost, no he looked solid enough. (How he felt was another matter.) He just looked different, he seemed brilliant when the world around them was grey. He looked ethereal.

"I know I'm dead, dobe. I missed you though, I couldn't leave you like that." Hallucination-Sasuke said. He reached out a hand, "Get up. I hate seeing you like this."

Naruto reached up without thinking-

And grabbed the hand. The hand was there, solid. Pale, rough, just as Naruto had always known it. He stared at it in dumb wonder. Then the hand started pulling him up, Naruto's muscles did no work. Sasuke pulled him up. Sasuke, who was dead, who had just admitted to being dead. Sasuke, who was now smiling the smile that Naruto had thought for sure he'd never see again. Uchiha Sasuke, who Naruto had carried home, bloody and limp, after their mission just over twelve hours ago.

"Sasuke," the blond whispered. _I'm shit crazy._ Naruto thought. But tears were stinging at his eyes again, not sad tears.

"Took you long enough, dobe." He pulled Naruto into an embrace, a warm, comforting embrace. He softly pressed his lips to the blond.

Naruto returned the kiss. Somewhere in his mind he registered that this was wrong, but he ignored it. This felt like Sasuke, he didn't feel different, he still looked different but he felt just as he always had. Amazing. Special. Perfect.

"How?" Naruto asked as they separated.

Sasuke shrugged. "Does it matter?"

Naruto shook his head, honestly feeling that it didn't matter. He grabbed the raven's hand and led him to sit by the edge of the mountain. This time Naruto saw Konoha, dark in the shadow of the grey clouds overhead. It was as if he'd been blind, and Sasuke gave him his sight back.

"Sakura was completely devastated," Naruto said softly, "She started crying as soon as she saw you, haven't seen her since. And Kakashi- He saw you and ran. Everyone was really upset, but they were all trying to comfort _me. _That's why I came up here."

"They wanted to see that amazing smile of yours." Sasuke said, grinning.

Naruto turned his head to look at him and smiled his amazing smile, not as huge as it had been. But it was still the Uzumaki Naruto smile. "Sasuke, I really missed you."

"I missed you too."

They sat in a comfortable, sweet silence for a while longer. Then Sasuke spoke, "Naruto, I wanted to talk to you."

Naruto nodded, locking his blue gaze on Sasuke's onyx eyes.

"I know you're upset. I don't know why, I was always your worse half, but I know you're upset. I don't want you to be hurt though. The sight of you crying earlier was the most heartbreaking thing in the world. I never would have wanted to see you like that when I was alive, I still don't want to see it. I want you to move on with your life. I'm not telling you to forget about me, I'm just asking you not to let it ruin your life." His voice was soft and serious.

Naruto said nothing, biting his lip. This would be a hard promise to keep, but he had to. "I won't. I promise Sasuke."

"Good. And, I suppose you can date. Maybe. As long as you move really slow, and not Sai. I'll come back and beat you up if you date Sai." Sasuke said the last part in a threatening voice, but a grin was on his face all the same.

"But I was already considering Sai," Naruto pouted. When Sasuke's eyes flashed he laughed, "Kidding. I don't want to date at all. You're the only one I can see myself with."

Sasuke smiled inwardly, "Just know that, if anyone other than Sai ever comes along and asks you out, and you kind of like them even though they're not as hot as me, it won't be a disgrace to my memory or whatever. I just want you to be happy."

Naruto smiled a bigger smile, and kissed Sasuke. Sasuke responded, pressing him to the ground. They went no further than gentle kissing though. The purity of the moment needed to be maintained. When they sat back up Sasuke was giving Naruto a sort of sad, loving look. Somehow Naruto knew what was coming.

"I have to go," Sasuke whispered. He turned to look out at Konoha. He'd never loved this village quite as much as Naruto, but all of a sudden his feelings for it became stronger knowing he would never enter it again. In the distance he saw the Uchiha compound and realized with a pang that now, there really was only one Uchiha left. A sudden thought occured to him, "Naruto-"

"I've already decided on that one," the blond said, looking in the same direction as Sasuke, "I'm going to kill Itachi."

"It's dangerous."

"I know."

Sasuke turned back to his lover, "I'll be watching you, I'll know if you don't keep your promise- or if you date Sai." Naruto rolled his eyes. "So be happy, for me, okay?"

Naruto nodded, a small smile gracing his lips. "I will."

"You'll become Hokage one day, I know it. No one knows better than you what it takes. No one has a heart quite as big as yours. I believe in you." Sasuke took a deep breath, he gave Konoha one last sweeping glance. "I'll miss them."

"They'll miss you too. But they'll live." Naruto was also looking out at the city, he caught sight of _their_ training ground, "You'll be on the memorial stone. Someday crazy teachers will be showing kids that stone, and the kids might see your name. I hope that if they do, they realize somehow that that name belonged to a brave, amazing person." He looked back at Sasuke who met his eyes. "I hope they want to be like you, KIA or not."

"But they'll be too busy wanting to be like you, Hokage."

Naruto shook his head, "You're still the better role model."

Sasuke stepped in to hug Naruto, "I'm going to miss you, more than anything on this earth," he whispered, tears were forming in his eyes. "And I want you to know, without a doubt, that I love you. And I will always love you, no matter what." He paused then added, "Dobe." for good measure.

"I'll miss you too, so much. And I love you, and I won't stop. Not for anything teme."

Sasuke stepped back. He gave Naruto a reassuring smirk, "I love you," then he began to fade away, his ethereal brightness dimming. His solidness becoming less sure until he wasn't there. Naruto stared where Sasuke's face had been, again not seeing. He felt his chest hurting and his throat clenching. He could feel the tears stinging at his eyes, but he wasn't sad. He wasn't going to let himself be sad. He knew he would never see Sasuke again, he somehow knew that was a one-time thing. But the thought didn't fill him with sadness, the image of Sasuke's face filled him with love. The love started spilling out of the corners of his eyes, small sobs excaped his throat. But his chest was stitched back together, and it was staying whole. He had a promise to keep.

Naruto knew that he had a life ahead of him. He knew he had Sasuke's blessing to date, but he wasn't going to. Sasuke was his only love. And Naruto knew that their love would last through all time. It would never fade, or die. It would be there, because he had his promise to Sasuke to be happy. Loving Sasuke was what made him happy in the first place, and his love would keep him happy forever.

Sasuke would forever be his teme, and Naruto would always be Sasuke's dobe.

* * *

**A/N: **This was my attempt at pretty writing. I'm actually quite proud of it. .

The inspiration, because I usually have it: The idea is actually from one of the dances on _So You Think You Can Dance. _Therefore I need to thank Mia Michaels for doing it.  
Please review, constructive criticism more than welcome. I give it lemonade and cookies.


End file.
